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The Starry Messenger 1 The Starry Messenger ∞ 1 An Introduction to The Starry Messenger Welcome to The Grand Book! All wisdom of men and immortals lie within its covers… but there’s a curse on those who don’t use it properly – so listen up! Sidereus Nuncius = The Starry Messenger About four hundred years before you read this Like an old friend of mine once said, sentence, a man called Galileo Galilei copied Galileo was “the father of modern an ingenious device invented the previous year science”. His discoveries opened – the telescope – and turned it to the skies. up whole new worlds, but more to He saw amazing things no-one had ever seen the point the methods he invented to before – mountains and craters on the moon, a discover them opened up whole new myriad stars glittering like dewdrops in the Milky ways of opening up whole new worlds. Way, worlds spinning round other worlds… He Galileo would have felt at home in a proclaimed his glorious discoveries in a book modern lab: our knowledge has moved called Sidereus Nuncius (or The Starry Messenger on, but our methods and mindsets to you and me). remain basically the same as his. (This friend of mine, by the way – German fellow named Albert – knew a thing or two about physics himself.) Those fine folk at the United Nations have seen fit to My friends at the University of designate this year, 2009, as Hertfordshire have made a little the International Year of film1 about one of the more glorious Astronomy in recognition of incidents in my career, when I had Galileo’s achievement, and its occasion to run into Signor Galilei humungus impact upon human and his fabled telescope.2 So before culture. anything else, why don’t you open some popcorn3, sit back and watch their mind-blowing movie? ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky, 1. They think it’s fiction. Little do they know…! 2. And it’s a good job for you all that I did, believe me. 3. Taking the opportunity to explain to your class the physics behind the popping, of course! The Starry Messenger ∞ 2 How to use this booklet The purpose of this booklet is to support The Starry Messenger film. It spells out the background science in much greater detail. It contains suggestions for class exercises and demonstrations all based around the work of the scientist characters in the film. After showing the film to your class, it can be used as a teaching resource to support your physics or astronomy course. The booklet tells a story – all about Galileo’s main achievements and their development at the hands of other scientists. This story has three main “themes”: I. The nature of matter. What is the Universe mostly made of? Are planets, stars and galaxies made of the same stuff as people, elephants and mangos? What are the mysterious substances called Dark Matter and Dark Energy? II. The story of gravity. How our changing picture of gravity reflects our growing conception of physical law: Galileo vs Aristotle; Newton’s theory; Einstein and warped spacetime. Gravity as a tool for studying the nature of astronomical matter. III. Scientific method. The twin roles of Empirical and Deductive reasoning in science – i.e. Experiment constraining mathematical Theory. Scientific scepticism and independent thinking – the evidence of the senses vs the word of authority. The uncertainty inherent in scientific results and their refinement over time. Each major scientist character in the film has their own chapter. You may pick and choose whichever best supports your teaching needs. Each chapter is divided into three sections: Notes outlining the work of each scientist, what they achieved and why it was important. Class exercises – experiments and problems – based on the work of each scientist. “Crib sheet” for teachers, containing solutions to problems and suggesting topics for further discussion. Feel free to photocopy whatever you’d like to distribute to the class (see copyright information on page 38). A full-colour PDF file of this booklet is also available at the following URL: http://star.herts.ac.uk/starry-messenger The Starry Messenger ∞ 3 CONTENTS I. GALILEO GALILEI (a) Science Background Galileo’s World: astronomy in 1600 6 The Geocentric Theory; Copernicus & the Heliocentric hypothesis; Galileo’s methodology: mathematical deduction backed up by experiment; the first telescopic observations & the nature of celestial matter; Galileo and the Church (b) Class Exercises (i) Jumbo Bunjee 10 Reproducing Galileo’s famous thought experiment about freefall (ii) The Man in the Moon 11 Naked-eye observation training; learning to believe your own eyes (c) Teacher’s Crib Sheet (covering Jumbo Bunjee & Man in the Moon) 12 (d) Science Supplement Vincenzo Galilei: music & scientific method 13 Harmony & cosmology; Galileo’s father and his influence II. ISAAC NEWTON (a) Science Background Universal Gravitation 14 Gravity as a universal force; freefall and orbits; the Laws of Motion; Optics: reflecting telescopes & dispersive prisms; Newton the Alchemist (b) Class Exercises (i) Parabolic Mirrors 16 Pencil-and-paper demonstration of the reflecting telescope (ii) Weaving a Rainbow 17 Spectral dispersion with a prism; how raindrops paint rainbows (iii) Clipping an Angel’s Wings 18 Debate: science & beauty, poetry vs rationalism (c) Teacher’s Crib Sheet (covering Parabolic Mirrors, Weaving a Rainbow and 19 Clipping an Angel’s Wings) III. ARTHUR EDDINGTON Science Background Eddington & Warped Spacetime 22 General Relativity: Einstein’s theory of gravity; Eddington and the 1919 total solar eclipse The Starry Messenger ∞ 4 IV. EDWIN HUBBLE & MILTON HUMASON (a) Science Background The Expansion of the Universe 24 Einstein’s “greatest blunder”, the Cosmological Constant; the concept of expanding space; the motion of galaxies and redshift (b) Class Exercises (i) Rediscovering Hubble’s Law 26 Derive the galactic velocity-distance relation using Hubble’s own data (ii) The Ballooniverse 27 Make your own expanding universe out of a balloon! Show how Hubble’s Law arises as a simple consequence of the expansion (c) Teacher’s Crib Sheet (covering Hubble’s Law and Ballooniverse) 28 V. CELESTE HEAVENS (a) Science Background Dark Matter & Dark Energy 30 What is the Universe made of? evidence for Dark Matter from galaxy dynamics; evidence for Dark Energy from the acceleration of the universe; searching for Dark Matter particles on Earth; the ultimate fate of the Universe (b) Science Supplement Catching Invisible Elephants 33 An article about searching for Dark Matter by Dr Meghan Gray VI. EXTRAS (a) Literary Background “The Starry Messenger” & Mythology 34 Symbolic & literary sources for the story (b) The Cast Dramatis Personae 36 Characters and the people who played them (c) Additional Information A Few Last Words 38 DVD Quick Start guide copyright notice; contact details (d) Behind the Scenes The Making of “The Starry Messenger” 39 The Starry Messenger ∞ 5 Galileo’s World: astronomy in 1600 The beginning of the 17th century was one of the most exciting and revolutionary periods in science. European scholars had busily been rediscovering the Ancient Greek knowledge transmitted to them by Arab astronomers. The accepted model of the cosmos was based on the work of a 2nd century Egyptian called Claudius Ptolemy. In this theory, the Earth lay at the middle of the universe, and all the other bodies – the Sun, moon, planets and stars – swirled around it on a compound of circular orbits (below). The great challenge of Greek astronomy was to explain the observed “loopy” motions of the planets relative to the stars (above). The “accepted” solution was the Ptolemaic model, (left) in which the planets don’t orbit the Earth directly, but rotate around a point which does. Note too that the Earth was placed slightly off-centre: this was to explain small deviations which were later explained, by Johannes Kepler, to be due to the fact that the planets orbit not in circles, but in ellipses! In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus had everything knows its place. Heavy, dirty, corrupt posthumously published a radical, rival things belong on the Earth, and therefore they heliocentric theory – i.e. one which placed the sink downwards, dragged toward Hell by their Sun, not the Earth, at the centre. He showed sin; the heavier they were, the faster they ought that, mathematically, this theory could explain the to move to the ground if dropped. Light, fluffy, observed, loopy motions of the planets just as well innocent things belong in heaven, and therefore as Ptolemy’s – well, actually, it turned out to be a lot they float up to the sky to be one with the simpler than Ptolemy’s, because there was no need angels. Everything below the orbit of the moon for all those fussy epicycles, with wheels within was thought to be made of crude, earthly matter, wheels within wheels; it has just one orbit per subject to decay and death. Everything above was world. This did not go down very well with those supposed to be made of a pure substance called who thought the Earth, as the home of Humanity, aether, spotless and eternal, forever moving in that should occupy a special place in the Universe. most perfect of geometric figures – the circle. It also conflicted with a favourite theory of Physics This was the way things were in the first decade at the time, which was based on the ideas of the of the 17th century. Then along came Galileo…. Greek philosopher Aristotle. In this theory, The Starry Messenger ∞ 6 Scientific Method: mathematical theory an earthbound laboratory could be used to and experiment describe the motions of the aethereal planets. Until Galileo, theories about the nature of They moved in circles: being perfect, what else the universe were vague and hand-wavy (or could they do? Forget about parabolas and qualitative to use the proper word).
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